


Gone with the Wind

by ekayla



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, He doesn't know it's Katara, I think that's their ship name, Kinda, One Shot, Zuko and the Painted Lady, Zutara, paintko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:26:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22948534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ekayla/pseuds/ekayla
Summary: He's heard stories of her, but one night he comes face to face with the Painted Lady. Captivated by her beauty, they share a moment, so short and fleeting that he wonders if it was ever real.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), The Painted Lady/Zuko (Avatar), painted lady/zuko
Comments: 4
Kudos: 96





	Gone with the Wind

He’d heard of her before. The Painted Lady. He’d gone through a couple small towns down by the river and heard whispers of her. People talked about the magical woman who helped their villages. He never stayed in the towns long, only enough to get food and supplies for him and his uncle. They stayed in the woods on the outskirts so people wouldn’t find out they were Fire Nation. If they found out… Well, that’s why they stayed in the woods. Better to not risk it. So every day when he went into the villages, he’d hear of this mysterious spirit woman, and then he’d forget as soon as he’d leave the market. Until one night, everything he’d heard came to the forefront of his mind… because he met her. 

Zuko couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t the fact that he was sleeping on the hard ground, that never bothered him despite the fact that he’d grown up in a palace. He truly didn’t mind the ground, but tonight he couldn’t fall asleep. And the night previous, and the night previous of that one. For about a week straight. He’d lay down, close his eyes, and his mind would just run. Tonight was no different, his mind running wild, so he decided to get up and go for a walk. His uncle was sound asleep, snoring a bit, and he figured as long as he was back before he woke up, it’d be okay. Zuko started walking towards the river - he could barely hear the rushing water from their tiny camp, but he thought maybe a night swim could help him sleep. It was worth a try. As he walked past the tall trees, a few minutes walk from where his uncle slept, he thought he heard a twig snap. He stopped in his tracks, looked around, seeing nothing. The moon was full in the sky, lighting up his path and the area around him, but yet he saw nothing out of the ordinary for a forest. He took one cautious step, then another, until he was walking slowly towards the river again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something white and flowy, but as soon as he turned towards it, it vanished. 

“Who’s there?” he said with purpose, hands flying to his dual swords on his back. He was thankful he brought them, at first he wasn’t going to. He pulled them out at the same time as his body moved to a defensive stance. He turned around, scanning the area. Again, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it, the flowing white cloth, and he leaped towards it. “Stop!” he said, jetting his swords out in front of his opponent, causing them to freeze in front of him. He could see now that it was in fact, a woman. The white cloth, torn at the ends, was draped over what looked like a large hat, creating a veil for a dark hooded woman wearing a deep burgundy dress. She was looking down so he couldn’t see her face, but he noticed the red lines on her shoulders going down the exposed part of her arms. Tattoos, perhaps. Despite her dress being frayed and ripped at the ends, and being slightly too large, the way it dripped off her shoulders and allowed the moonlight to flow over her skin caused Zuko to catch his breath. 

“Please…” she said, in a low voice, slightly deeper than he expected a woman’s voice to be. 

“Who are you?” he demanded, swords still raised. He wasn’t going to let her discover his and his uncle’s camp, or that they were Fire Nation. 

“They call me the Painted Lady.” she said, still looking down. “Please, I need to go. I don’t want to hurt you.” She had a calmness in her voice that broke through his defenses. Zuko slowly lowered his swords.

“What are you doing in the woods at night?” he asked.

She looked up but off to the side, still protecting her face. “I could ask you the same question.” He could hear a smile in her voice. In the moonlight, he could now see better the red lines on her body, which were in fact red paint, beginning on her neck and moving in towards her chin, and there were more on her face. If her beauty wasn’t obvious before, it was now with the moonlight giving more to her silhouette. He suddenly wanted to see the smile that he heard in her reply. He put his swords back together in one hand, then replaced them on his back. 

“I was just going for a walk.” he said, matter of factly. 

“In the middle of the night?” she said with confusion, but sprinkled with intrigue. She didn’t take a step away, as he expected her to. She didn’t seem so rushed to get away anymore. 

“I couldn’t sleep.” he shrugged, not knowing why this was any of her business, but not being able to stop himself from opening up to her. Finally, she turned and looked up to him. Even though she was several feet away, Zuko could see her eyes. They were a deep blue and strong, like the ocean after a storm. When she turned towards the moon, they became bright and clear like a calm lake. She was beautiful. She reminded him of someone, but he was having a difficult time focusing on thinking of anything else with those eyes within his sight. 

She stared out towards the river, which was still far enough away but within their vision. “I’ve been there before. Sleep is hard to come by these days.” she empathized. There was a tiredness in her voice now, as if she were unable to sleep herself, and hadn’t been able to for a while. “When I can’t sleep, I try to help people instead.” She looked down at her hands. 

Zuko took a step forward, still mesmerized by her. “I’ve heard stories. You do help people.” 

She turned toward him, looking down but letting a small smile show on her lips. Zuko continued, “Why do you help them?” 

Her smile faded. “The Fire Nation. They take so much away from them, and… I know how that feels. I may not be able to get back what I’ve lost, but if I can give back to these people, well, that’s enough for me.” He sensed the sadness in her voice when she began, but recognized hopefulness in the end. 

“I understand. The Fire Nation took something from me, too.” 

She looks over at him, with a deep look of compassion in her eyes, knowing that he meant every word he said. Zuko watched her for a moment, then looked at the ground. She used the opportunity to take a step towards him. Now they are only a foot apart. He felt her presence close to him, but kept his gaze downward. There was something about this that felt intimate and almost like if he looked up, she would vanish into thin air. He wanted her to stay near. 

“Close your eyes,” she whispered. He did what she asked, and with his eyes closed he felt confident to lift his head up towards where he knew she was standing. Even though he had no idea her true identity, or even if she was real, there was something about her honesty in her answers that allowed him to trust her. Suddenly, her lips were on his. It was a simple kiss, but it still took his breath away nonetheless. He kept his eyes closed, afraid that if he opened them, the moment would end. He kissed her back, moving one of his hands to cup her face. As quickly as the kiss began, it ended. She pulled away, leaving his hand in the space where her face was. He kept his eyes closed for only a second, but when he opened them, she was gone like the wind. He only felt a breeze where she once stood.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun writing it - it's my first ever ATLA fanfic :) Love me some Zutara, especially when he doesn't know it's her! Ha!


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